Skulduggery Pleasant: The Not-so-Amazing-Secrets of the Lost Jug
by Valkyrie Smith
Summary: A small gang of criminals on the run and trying to unlock secrets that will supposedly make them all powerful. Skulduggery and Valkyrie will need to stop them, and obtain the secrets to be destroyed. Will they do it in time? - Skulduggery and Valkyrie mainly, with a few friends for a brief time - My first story but I have been working on it a year! ;) Hope you like! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is the start of my first story! I hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 1

11:38 pm, his watch said. It was dark. Dark and cold. He didn't like dark or cold. But he did, however, like power, and he knew that the dark and cold tunnel was leading him to exactly that.

"Hey, are you coming or what?" snarled Darron Variance. He didn't like Variance. He didn't like the name or that deep voice or the shaven head. He didn't like the way Variance was so, so strong yet he never had to work for it. Variance was an Adept, having the magic power, such as it was, of great strength, which he liked to demonstrate with his lean, scrawny, unmuscular body.

"Why wouldn't he be coming? He's standing right next to you, not lagging behind," Abattoir Banal said in his pointed, calm voice, "You only say that when someone is lagging behind." Variance muttered under his breath.

They walked in silence for the next hour or so until they reached a ladder which lead out of the sewer. He didn't like the sewer. The open air was warmer, but it was darker out here. You just can't win with this world. But when they had the artefact from the Dublin Arts Museum, he would take its secrets and could control anything in the world. He would be so powerful. Forget the other two. They didn't know anything about him, and that's fine. He would be able to take them down and then the artefact would be all his. Every person in the world that dared to stand against him would fall, begging for mercy all the way down.

They sneaked up to the Museum and he started to look around for any of those troublesome Sanctuary Operatives. They could easily be here by now. That's why the three of them had to come in random ways each time; different and creative. The Sanctuary could never guess what was going on in their minds. However he still scrutinised the scene. The agents and Cleavers were easy enough to predict and watch out for, but Detectives Pleasant and Cain were something completely different.

He didn't know that much about them but what he did know he liked to keep to himself. Skulduggery Pleasant was tall and thin. Pleasant wore exquisitely tailored suits, made by Ghastly Bespoke. He didn't like suits. Pleasant was the mentor and partner of Valkyrie Cain. A detective, magician, warrior. Dead. Oh yes, dead. A skeleton. His learnt magical discipline was Elemental and he had a gun. Extremely powerful and strong - magically and physically.

Valkyrie Cain was as violent and vicious as she was smart. She wore black a lot, got in trouble more, and had a sharp mouth. She was an Elemental with the Necromancy powers. She was the student and partner of Skulduggery Pleasant. Seventeen years old, and had been training with the best fighters since she was twelve. She may be young but was becoming a feared enemy. She was both powerful and strong - magically and physically.

But from the stories he had heard, he knew that they would be very difficult to get off his back if he were noticed. But this time would be different. He knew what the Skeleton Detective was like and he had heard, from Variance, what Cain was like. But together… there were rumours that they're unstoppable. He heard from someone that they referred to Pleasant's car and house as 'ours', because their bond is so tightly knotted, or something similar to that. Their friendship was very strong, nonetheless. He didn't like either of them.

If push came to shove, then he may not be able to take them before he got the artefact, but that was why he needed Banal and Variance. Once he got the Secrets, Pleasant and Cain would be first to fall, then his temporary allies as a close second.

Banal went ahead and a moment later gave the signal. He ran after him with Variance on his heels. They jumped the wall one by one, dropping down easily. Running to the safety of the shadows to escape the cameras gaze was tricky, as there was only four seconds between each camera pointing in their direction, but of course they did it. Then he walked silently to the window and pressed his hand to the lock. Moments later, the lock gave way and the window opened.

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**So? How was it!? Tell me in the Reviews! =**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! Thank you to all those that have read this so far. You haven't lest comments but I hope you have enjoyed it! This it the second chapter!**

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Chapter 2

"Lift harder! Come on, almost there!" exclaimed the Teacher, "You're almost there!" Valkyrie watched as one of her class tried to lift the weight that they had been given. It was supposed to be punishment for all the things that they had done last week, with the shouting, the mess and the disrespect to teachers. She didn't like her teachers because they demanded the respect that they hadn't earned. She never had. It was common fact. She also didn't like that the one day she was told to go to school had to be the day that double Maths and Technology was on. However, this last lesson would be great. Finally, she was able to show off her strength to an audience that would be impressed enough to stare.

"Alright, you can put it down now. Edgley, up you get", the Teacher called. She casually hopped up and some other people in her class muttered. She knew that they thought that she was weird, and odd. But it really didn't change her ego.

"Jacket and joggers off", Teacher commanded. He was getting on her nerves, but she ignored him and instead took off the joggers, revealing shorts and two long, strong, powerfully muscled legs. The muttering had stopped now. She then took off her jacket to expose her tight sports crop top showing her six-pack and its muscles plus long, strong arms and wide shoulders. The room of people looked at her in awe. Everyone in the small coastal town of Haggard knew that Stephanie Edgley worked out, but no one had ever actually seen her demonstrate the profits of all her work. Valkyrie walked over to the teacher, who started to adjust the weights, adding heavier ones, obviously realising that she can lift a whole lot more than everyone else there.

Valkyrie lay down on the mat and put her hands on the weights metal bar, mentally going through everything she knew about weight lifting. After a few seconds thought, she realised she didn't know that much. Tanith, before she had been taken over by a Remnant, had instructed her when she was younger, so she knew how to hold it safely and that she had to push it high above her head. Other than that, she knew nothing.

The teacher finished fiddling and Valkyrie pushed, realised instantly that she would easily do it and stopped worrying so much. It was easy. The class was still silent as she pushed the weight up for the tenth time, lowered it back down. She sat up.

"Well that was _easy_. Do you have anything more challenging?" she asked in that unimpressed tone she sometimes used with her dullest of trainers. She had found that easy. She didn't bother looking at the rest of the class, as she already knew they would be staring at her like startled puffer-fish. The teacher started to look around for more weights, and as he did, Valkyrie looked out of the window. She needn't have bothered. He was there. Of course he was. Skulduggery Pleasant, her partner and mentor, had called her earlier saying that he would be waiting to pick her up later. They didn't have a case, so the day had been free until the Elders had asked to see them about four thirty this afternoon, and that's why she had been sent to school, against all her protestations.

She watched the gleaming, black Bentley for at least five minutes, and knew he had seen her when the lights flashed. He was telling her to get back to work and stop daydreaming. In her opinion, he was really annoying sometimes. Many agreed.

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Two hours, a shower and wearing her school uniform, minus the tie, later she sat in the Bentley, complaining.

"He made me do too much. How am I supposed to hit someone if my arms hurt?" she whined, "I don't like him. And when I was in the changing room people kept giving me funny looks. I usually don't care, but it makes you a bit self-conscious, you know?"

"Not really. But I'm sure they were only looking at you because they want to be you. That's what I'd think," Skulduggery replied in his smooth voice, as he drove them to Roarhaven. He changed the subject before she spoke, "So what are you thinking for this afternoon? We don't really have anything to tell the Elders, exactly", he said, cocking his head to the side.

"You're driving us to Roarhaven because we need to give them that report you wrote which the Elders are keen to get a hold of, remember. That's what we're doing and why we're going", she sighed. She hated reports. She didn't like reading things and filling out forms. She liked hitting people, kicking people, elbowing them and maybe throwing in a few knees. She liked arresting people. That was fun.

"Oh, yes! Your right," he answered brightly.

"How didn't you remember that? You complained for, like, two hours about that."

"I just did. But the good news is that I remembered to fill it in. Hush now, I like this song," so he turned up the radio and Valkyrie sat there in silence, listening to him sing along softly. He had the softest singing voice she had ever heard. Not like her father's tuneless screech.

By the time they reached Roarhaven, she was a little mesmerised by his voice. When he turned the engine off and got out of the car she followed, coming back into the real world and led the way. She went through the doors, and past the Cleavers, dressed all in grey, with a scythe strapped to their backs. They were still as intimidating as on the first day she had seen them.

They nodded to Tipstaff, the administrator, and went straight to the throne room. Erskine Ravel was in the middle, the Grand Mage, looking bored. He was all good looks and easy charms, and Valkyrie had a bit of a crush on him. Not that she would ever admit it though.

On his left was Ghastly Bespoke. His mother had been cursed when she was pregnant with him, so he had been born with scars covering his face and body, making him truly ugly. His mother had also been a boxer and his father a tailor. He had been a boxer for his mother, but he used to have a shop in a small sorcerer town where he had been a tailor, before he had taken position as an Elder, because he wanted to track down and capture Tanith Low. He wanted to cure her of the soul-jacking Remnant, due to his being completely smitten by her.

On the right side was Madam Mist. She was dressed in the same Elder clothes that they all had to wear, and she had a black veil covering her face. Valkyrie didn't like her because she was a Child of the Spider. She could turn into a massive spider at will and, as if that wasn't enough, vomit hundreds of thousands of hairy spiders. A bit creepy, in other words.

When they had walked over to them, Ravel lifted his head from his hand.

"You don't look like you're having fun. Why not? I thought you were really beginning to like this job," Valkyrie said sarcastically.

"I'm bored. I hate this job. This morning I was playing on my phone, and Tipstaff took it away. I didn't realise he was there. I usually hide it when he comes near. He may have taken it because I was shouting at it though," he said with a miserable frown and a cute pout on his lips.

"What were you playing to make you shout?" asked Valkyrie, willing herself not to blush at the cuteness of his expression.

"He was playing Angry Birds again. Since he played it on yours that one time, he spends every spare minute on it. I heard him shouting, 'Why won't you just die, you stupid pig!' I don't think Elders are allowed to say them things," Ghastly replied for Ravel.

"Well, I need things to do, too!" Ravel said defensively.

"Doesn't mean you're allowed to say it though."

"But I've almost finished the game! Then he took it from me! What-"

"Why did you say 'stupid pig'? They are birds," Mist asked in that quiet voice of hers. It was the first time Valkyrie had heard her take part in any small talk conversation. She must be getting soft, she thought to herself.

"You're supposed to throw the bird at the pig, kill the pig, and get all the eggs back."

They all stood or sat there for a few seconds as they thought about how stupid that sounds. The Grand Mage wasn't supposed to do them things, but then again, Ravel was different to the other Grand Mages anyway.

"And on that note, back to business," Skulduggery said brightly, breaking the silence. "I have that file that you made me do. I hated that by the way."

"Forget the file. We need your help at the moment," Ghastly said looking serious again.

"You mean I didn't have to do that file?" Skulduggery asked, horrified.

"That's in the past now," Ravel said, waving it way. "We have more pressing matters going on at the moment"

"But I spent time over that…"

"Skulduggery we need you to concentrate," Ravel pressed, "We have heard about a gang of criminals trying to get an artefact from the  
Dublin Arts Museum. They think it's the Jug of Secrets."

"And is it?"

"Well, the Jug is supposed to be lost, you know? But they might be right. However, it doesn't really matter if they are or aren't right, we can still catch them."

Valkyrie scowled. "Is anyone going to tell me what this amazingly lost Jug of Mysterious Secrets is, then?"

"Nope," replied Skulduggery.

She elbowed him in the rips, and he grunted. She looked at Ravel, eyebrow raised. "The Jug of Secrets is basically a jug-" Valkyrie gave him a look for pointing out the obvious, "-which is supposed to give the owner a secret that no one else can ever know or see. They have it in loads of stories, where people find it, but the secret is different in each, because, well, we don't know what it is.

"My favourite is probably the one where a mortal farmer finds out a secret so terrible that he decides to hide in order to stop evil from using it. When other people start coming over asking questions, he runs away over the hills to the woman in the cave. No mortals ever went there because they thought she was a witch; really though, she was just another sorcerer. Probably a sensitive.  
When he got there, he said he had a secret and he had to hide it from enemies. He didn't tell her what it was. She agreed to help him because she was a good person. He had to write it down on special paper, and place into something- a jug. She put a 'spell' on it and that was that. It was safe and his own mind was blocked off from what the secret was that he had found. The woman and farmer then parted and the farmer hid the Jug some-place."

Valkyrie considered what she had just been told. She had a dozen questions in her head and she tried to work out what was most important. Finally she said, "Oh." Once again, she got that crazy feeling of the questions being people, glaring at her remark. She tried to redeem herself. "But why do you need us then? There must be another detective to do this, if the Secrets are just a fairy tale."

"Well, I'm convinced it's not a fairy tale, you see. Some people were trying to do the job, but the three people in the gang, Abattoir Banal, Darron Variance and Wane Fiend, seem to keep getting into the Museum. The Detective can't work out how they keep getting in, or how they're getting artefacts. Last night, however, they messed up. The three will probably go back tonight; it's the only logical answer as they will expect us to expect that they will wait. We want you to get them," Ravel said. A small pause followed, as the Detectives mulled it over.

"So you want us to get these criminals, in the act of getting this Jug. Am I right so far?" Skulduggery queried.

"Yes," Ravel confirmed.

"And why us? Why not some other people? Out of curiosity, of course."

"Because, as I said, I don't think it is a myth. I think it might be real. In which case, the only people who we really can trust with a secret this big, is you. The others, however reliable they may be, may want the power of the Secrets, if that's what it really holds," Ravel explained.

"So basically, you don't really trust your staff with a secret like this, so you give it to us," Skulduggery said, tilting his head in amusement. Only Valkyrie could say what it meant when he positioned his head this way or that. She had been able to since she first met him, and not one other person, dead or alive or part-dead or part-alive -yes, it's really that complicated- could possibly say that.

So, Ravel went on and said, "Well, of course we do, but we thought you might want it! Now go and detect something or other. I need to find out if I can get my phone back." He stood up and stretched, as Valkyrie followed Skulduggery out the room grinning inwardly.

They went back to the car, stopping only to hand the unnecessary file over to Tipstaff, and strapped themselves in. As they drove in silence, they thought it over. Valkyrie knew that three criminals usually meant something bad, but it also had some pluses. The three could not like each other. But if they do, then it was most likely they're not going to remain liking each other once they get the Jug, because they will all want the power. There will be one that's willing to deceive the others in order to get what they want, and at very least they will get that person which was left behind. They would interrogate him and get what they wanted. However, the person may just play it safe and kill them in their sleeps. Valkyrie would probably do that. Simplest option.

"So where are we going then?" she asked Skulduggery.

"Back to my house I suppose. You can get your work clothes on and I'll make arrangements. We'll go through the layout of the museum, and reposition the Cleavers. We can have the sorcerers removed, but put on standby," he said. She nodded and messed around with the radio, until it reached her favourite channel, turned it up high and listening to 'The Killers'.

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**Well what do you think? Remember, even Guests can leave reviews! I need feed back at some point! =**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! Thank you to those who reviewed! I Have edited the last two chapters, mainly in layout, and if you want to glance at it, and tell me if its a improvement or I need to think of something else to make reading easier, please tell me!**

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Chapter 3

It was almost ten at night. Valkyrie thought about what it would be like if she had a normal life. She defiantly wouldn't be doing things like this, that's for sure. Probably be doing homework or revising if she was normal. She was so glad that she wasn't.

She and Skulduggery were by the back of Museum, waiting for movement. They were cameras all over the building and people observing them. The second something happened, they would get a call. They were hidden in the bushes, with a view of the right side and back of the Museum, the best place they could find. The Cleavers were positioned in the places that the gang were most likely to exit, not enter, however there were a few extra that were put in direct line in order to slow them down. Skulduggery had explained that even if they didn't catch them in the act of going in or getting the Jug, at very least the Cleavers will get them on their way out. All in all, one of their better plans.

She glanced at Skulduggery. He was a statue of tranquillity, perfectly still and patience. She was as still as she could be, and whilst she had patience, she had little of it. If anyone looked, they would see a skeleton in an exquisitely tailored suit, and a teenage girl in black, sulking, sitting crossed legged on the ground.

She heard a sound and her head snapped in its direction. She saw nothing, though there was enough faint light to see all around them. She just stared in its direction, even though Skulduggery was back to looking the other way. She was about to look away too, when she saw what looked like a thin man, Darron Variance, jump over the wall. Wane Fiend came next, the only Elemental of the group and Abattoir Banal followed.  
They all varied in height, but the last two were muscular and broad shouldered. She tapped Skulduggery and he looked at her, as she started to get up, and then looked the way she was looking. Squatting and waited for the criminals to get in through the window, before they followed.

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They were in. Again. He didn't like going back to the same place again. He didn't like Museums. But at the moment, what he didn't like most of all, was Variance. Last night, when they were about to get into the artefacts room, he tripped. He fell over his own shoe lace, for God's sake! They heard the Cleavers coming and they ran. Somehow, they managed to escape, but only just. He didn't like Cleavers. When they got back to the safe house, he was practically seething. He shouted at Variance for at least two hours, and Variance looked rather pale by the end of it.

They went through the shadows of the building in silence. They knew the way there. It was the same as last night, same ways, and times, and the exit would be the same too. Easy as pie. He didn't like pie.

They got to the second floor without disturbance. They stopped at the end of a corridor. There, standing in the middle of the hall, was a Cleaver. Banal, which happened to be up front, turned and looked back at the other two men. Banal pointed at Variance, who got up and started to walk into the corridor, all swagger and strut. Smugness was coming off him in what seemed like waves. The other two looked into the convenient mirror on the opposite wall, giving them a view into the corridor.

Variance walked straight at the Cleaver, without hurry, and the Cleaver looked at him. Probably thought the guy was mad. Well, mad was defiantly the right term. Right to think so. The Cleaver stepped into the middle of the corridor and looked straight at Variance, with his scythe in hand, and legs slightly apart. He was going to use lethal force. That meant the Elders knew that they were onto something pretty big, not looking for fairy tales. When Variance was a few strides away, he stopped, and looked at his opponent.  
Then, with surprising speed for someone quite so thin and short, he rushed the Cleaver. The Cleaver hadn't expected it, but only took a fraction of a second to recover; swinging the scythe in an arc, but Variance just stepped slightly to the side. Variance grabbed the scythe and pulled it out of the Cleavers hand, throwing it behind him, to the end of the corridor, at least sixty metres away, where it hit the wall and shattered the blade and splintered the handle.

The Cleaver, seeming unable to be shocked, simply tried to punch Variance in the head. When the fist collided with the head, there was a sickening crunch. The Cleaver's fist had shattered.

Variance grabbed the Cleavers shoulder with his left hand and used the other to smash the Cleavers head in. The Cleaver was out cold after the first punch, but Variance kept hitting until the Cleaver was well and truly dead. Letting the body fall to the floor, he wiped his hand on his trousers. He waved at the other two with impatience, like destroying a Cleaver was something he did for fun.

They ran to the end of the corridor, and went straight to the double doors. They looked at each other, then opened the doors quietly and sneaked in. The room, there it was. Different artefacts lined the walls. All very neat. He didn't like neat. He walked straight for the left side of the room. Fourth shelf up, ninth from the wall, was this jug. The Jug! Here it was, right in front of him. He kept licking his bottom lip until it was pink and shiny, and then narrowed his eyes. This was the difficult part. To get into the glass surrounding the artefacts, without kicking up a fuss, and alerting the Cleavers. Also, if the glass smashed inwards, then it could damage the Jug.

Then he heard a sound. It wasn't by Banal or Variance. They were standing still and this was the sound of a floor board creaking. He looked into the corridor the same time the Skeleton Detective cursed and ran in.

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**Ooooh! Cliff hanger! Thank you to _DarkAntidote_ and _TheOracleOfDelphi_ for telling the previous chapter looked weird. I wouldn't have checked...**

**Yes _Charlseeyy_. I am. =**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Hope you like this next Chapter!**

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Chapter 4

"Damn," Skulduggery cursed, before jumping up into the room. Valkyrie jumped up after him and joined them in the room. She was still long enough to see Variance's face split into a smile, and Banal rush at Skulduggery. Wane Fiend was by the wall, looking like he was working out a mathematical question. She looked away and started working with Skulduggery.

He threw Banal at her and she flipped him over her hip, his head smashing into the floor. She left him there and started to manipulate the shadows. She made them sharp and slashed them into Variance. He dodged the biggest of them but one of the smaller ones made a small cut in his arm. Skulduggery used this little distraction to crunch the air into his head. Ducking the attack, Variance ran at Skulduggery, and Skulduggery ran at Variance. They crashed into each other but Skulduggery was taken off his feet, only just managing to rap his arms around Variance, taking him down with him. Valkyrie started to run to the other side of the room where Fiend was watching the show.

Valkyrie suddenly felt an agonizing pain in her left foot and it gave out, just as there was a smash. It travelled into her other foot, and up her legs. She lay there, withering and squirming, trying to work out what was going on. She screamed. She could feel the pain in her hips now. Her screaming reached new levels. She stopped screaming, tears in her eyes, pain in her whole lower body and looked at Banal. He was an Adept, that's all she knew about his magic discipline. It seemed however, that he was doing this. His magic was torture. Literally.

He had stood up now and was looking down at her. She didn't bother screaming. It was a waste of energy, and she knew it. She just looked at him, tears of pain on her face. She was going to black out. She couldn't. If she did then he would kill her, and she wouldn't be able to defend herself. She cried out as the pain suddenly intensified. She heard a fist slam into something hard, and someone fall to the floor only a second later, like they had been punched downwards. Then, with a roar of anger, Skulduggery slammed his body into Banal, and he hit the corridor wall with a thud. Skulduggery left him there, and ran over to Valkyrie's side.

"Are you OK?" he asked. His smooth voice was thick with concern and worry. She couldn't find words. She feared that if she opened her mouth, then only screams would come out. She simply clamped her teeth together, tears falling down her face. "Don't worry. I'll get you out of here. Just stay still." She nodded the best she could. There was a blurry grey colour in the corner of her vision. Cleavers. She closed her eyes and tried to block everything out in an attempt to control the pain that was so unbearable.

She felt thin, cold arms pick her up. "I've got you. Let's get to the Sanctuary and let the Doctors fix you up, yeah? Just hold in there," said her favourite smooth voice, Skulduggery's voice. He held her tight, but gently, to lessen the pain. It didn't matter that he was cold. He was cold and _safe_. She liked safe when she was hurting.

He took her straight out of the building and straight to the Bentley. He didn't bother to try and sit her up in the front seat. She was obviously in a whole load of pain. Valkyrie tried not to cry. She almost never cried. But the pain was just agonising. Laying her down on the back seats, she tried to stop her whining. He had just started down the main road when she slipped into unconsciousness.

Hours later she woke, in a Sanctuary bed, with Doctor Nye hovering above her. It had long arms and longer legs, making it hunch over as so not to hit its head off the ceiling. It was neither a He, nor She. It had also given Valkyrie a scare to wake up to see that face above her, with puncture marks, from threads that had long since been taken out, through its eyelids and lips. Its nose had once been taken off, and refused to grow back, so he had been left with a scab instead. Behind Nye was Skulduggery, who was talking with another Sanctuary agent, but never taking his eye sockets from Nye. Nye had tortured and killed friends of Skulduggery's, killed hundreds, murdered more, and had run from punishment. Skulduggery never trusted him, and neither did Valkyrie, or anyone else for that matter.

"So you've finally woken up then? I thought you never would. Screamed a bit in your sleep, and thrashed about a bit, so I had to have people strap you to the table. Your friend hasn't moved from that spot since he brought you in yesterday, about seventeen hours and thirty minutes ago if that clock is right," Nye said it in that awfully high voice of its. She really hated that voice. She decided to just look at it. There was also a dull throbbing inside her body, but it had, thankfully, receded to just her legs.  
She started to sit up, and then noticed that the straps were still around her wrists and ankles. A sudden sense of claustrophobia loomed in on her, so she struggled against the bond in vain. Then Skulduggery was there and undid the buckle and moved around her, until they had all been removed. Sitting up, she noticed that some people sneaked glances at her every so often.

"Some people are looking at me. Why?" Valkyrie asked Skulduggery in a low voice so no one else would hear.

He hesitated for a moment, then, "When you came in, you had been tortured by Abattoir Banal, and I don't think anyone has ever survived when he starts to torture someone. You were almost dead yourself, but somehow, mercifully, you managed to hold on. After a while you were able to breath by yourself and-"

"Wait. Did you just say, 'you were able to breath by yourself'? Implying that I wasn't? I wasn't even breathing?" Valkyrie said aghast.

"You had been hurt very badly. What Banal is able to do is inflict a pain at first, but that pain spreads and destroys you inside out over time, not whilst he is standing there," Skulduggery said, like he was remembering something from a long time ago. Then he looked at her, "If you ever end up in the same room as him, I need you to promise me something. Can you do that for me?" he said like he was pleading with her.

"That would depend"

"Don't try and fight him. Just run. Don't stay there. Even if I'm stuck, I need you to get out. Can you do that for me?" he sounded uncharacteristically sad and weather-beaten when he said it. Like this would mean a whole lot to him if Valkyrie left him in the middle of a trap, and ran away without him. Not a chance.

She was just about to object, but he must have noticed she would have, from her expression, as he put his hand up, "Don't you remember what happened before we fought Serpine that last time? Just before you went in I told you that if you died that would be all it took for me to snap out of it," he told her. "Please," he asked.

She couldn't say no when he asked her like that. It sounded like it would mean a lot to him if she said yes, and she did remember what he had said. So, "I promise. I promise that I will not get killed by Banal by looking for a fight with him," she said it reluctantly, but firmly. She meant it, and she wasn't planning on ever going back on that promise, as much as she would hate it later. Also, if she had got away, then she could get the Elders to order a rescue operation, and she could lead it, and get him back, and-

Right on cue, the Grand Mage and Elder Bespoke came in. Valkyrie assumed that they had asked to be told when she woke up. Ravel and Ghastly went straight to her and started to ask if she was OK and assuring her and generally put a smile on her face.

"So from what Skulduggery has told me, and the way you looked when you first came in, Valkyrie, you had got in and almost got them all but then Banal came along and bashed Val around the room, and it didn't get much further than that. The bad guys also have the Jug, we were told. We do, however, have Variance in custody," Ravel finished on a high note.

"Great," Valkyrie replied, and looked at Skulduggery, "let's go and speak to him. The quicker we find out where they are, the quicker I can watch Banal have his face punched in. It'll be fun," Valkyrie said, nodding. She may have made a promise, but she wasn't going to let Banal get away with what he had done to her. Also, from what Skulduggery had just said, this guy had hurt a lot of people in the past. He wasn't getting away with this.

"Not yet, you're not. You can stay here until the Doctor says you can go. And that's an order," Ravel said with a smile like he understood the feeling. But she knew he was being serious.

"Sir, yes, sir," Valkyrie said, playing along.

"Good. Now, whilst I would love to stick around, I really need to get back. I have a marvellously devious plan. Tipstaff won't suspect a thing until I have him," he said rubbing his hands together, and she heard, just before he left through the door, "I'll be killing them pigs before the day is out, assured."

She waited a few seconds and then she swung her legs off the bed, and stood up. She instantly wobbled and both Ghastly and Skulduggery caught her. Once she felt like she could stand on her own she said, and carried on until she was at the door, sensing Skulduggery close to her encase her legs gave out from under her again, and looked out the window. She went back again and got her clothes from the end of the bed. Skulduggery and Ghastly turned around until she gave that all clear. Then she went back to the window in the door.

"I'm supposing that you're not listening to the Grand Mage, then?" Ghastly asked them as they walked slowly, to fit Valkyrie's current speed. When she didn't see any good-looking, easily charming men outside, she opened the door and went as down the corridor as fast as she could go, without her legs wobbling too much.

"Why would I do what he says? I never do what I'm told, and he is no exception to that rule of mine," Valkyrie said as she… walked. It wasn't much of a walk. She didn't go very fast. In fact, she went slower than a walk, but she reckoned that, as Skulduggery had said all people died after encountering Banal, not many people would look at her funny shuffling-hobbling-walk as she went down the Sanctuary, towards the holding cells.

After a few minutes of odd-ball walking, she felt much better, and her throbbing had subsided to almost nothing. They left Ghastly to organise the meeting between Variance and the two Detectives and walked to the interrogation rooms. They didn't actually go in, they just went into the camera room, making sure everything was OK and then, when Variance was in place, his back to the door, Skulduggery walked into the room with Valkyrie on his right. He went to the chair at the table and sat, and Valkyrie sat on his right side, just out of direct sight when their prisoner looked straight ahead.

Valkyrie took in exactly what she saw with what she had heard and read earlier. He had a shaven head, and a pierced lip. He had a tattoo on his left arm, a lion with a head in its mouth, and a heart under its paw. It had glowing green eyes. He looked to be in his late twenties, which would be about 350 years old if the file she had read was near accurate. Other than the small stud through his lip, he wore no other jewellery that was on display. His body looked to be thin, lean and small, but Valkyrie knew that he was aggressive and strong. He wore the shackles around his hands though, and so his magic was bound and he was unable to access it.

"So, Darron, you seem to have gotten yourself in a bit of a pickle here, haven't you?" Skulduggery said all business. Something seemed to set into Variances face as he nodded. He obviously knew it was bad to make the great Skeleton Detective angry, and something in Skulduggery's voice was hinting at it. Valkyrie had been hurt, almost killed, and this man was a part of the group in which the man which had hurt Valkyrie was in, and Skulduggery didn't like people who hurt his friends or the people they associated with.

"We need to know the basic stuff. What is this little group of marauders, what do you want to do, and why do you want to do it? We can take the conversation from there," Skulduggery continued.

The man didn't say anything for a few moments, and then glanced at Valkyrie and that look on his face that had seemingly set there a few moments ago faded, and he looked back to Skulduggery, "You don't really want to know them things," he said in a deep Dublin voice. It was a nice voice, but it belonged to a bad man, so Valkyrie really didn't care what his voice was like. Valkyrie did know that it wasn't unusual for prisoners to be uncooperative at first, and she did care that they got him talking.

"I think you'll find we do," Skulduggery responded.

"I think you'll actually find you won't," he replied.

"Well what is it you think we want to know?"

"I'm not sure. I know what you want from me, and I know what you want from me," he nodded his head slightly in Valkyrie's direction, not looking in her eyes, "I know nothing of what you both want from me together, though."

"Well, what is it that I want? Because I'm pretty sure I want to know what this group is, what you want to do, and why do you want to do it. I asked Me that question, and Me said that I didn't know that stuff, and now I'm asking it of you in order to make Me happy," Skulduggery said, bringing in his usual nonsense, "So I suggest you tell us this or we start to make life difficult for you," Skulduggery said all this but Variance kept glancing at Valkyrie the whole time, looking at that hard, blank face she always plastered onto her face when she was in an interrogation.

"You can't make my life any more difficult," he said, a small smile on his lips this time, "I'll soon be in jail this time next week, with a trial over in seconds for the things I've done in the past."

"I still think you should tell us."

"No."

"That's really upsetting to hear. Valkyrie, go and get our friend," Skulduggery told her.

"Wait. What are you talking about?" Variance looked confused.

"I'm getting someone that will get you to tell us what we want," Valkyrie said. She had no idea who she was getting.

"Who?" he obviously didn't see through their bluff because she could see a little fear starting to seep into his eyes. She suspected he didn't want to be left with his magic bound in any room with just Skulduggery for company, let alone this room.

"Oh, just a friend. He owes us a few favours from-"

"No, stay," he said.

"You can tell us, or I can get someone who will make you," she said, narrowing her eyes.

He scratched his chin. "If I tell you, what happens to me? What happens to the others?" he asked.

Valkyrie sat down. "If you tell us, we don't need to get our friend to make you tell us. You don't need to beg. All the time you don't tell us we can add on more time for you in prison," Valkyrie said, to intimidate him. She thought about that, giving him a little pause to gather his thoughts, and realised that she probably couldn't do that. Nonetheless, she continued, "Your friends will get something much worse and probable spend twice as long in a cell. It's your choice," Valkyrie said.

"Fine," he replied at last. "I'll do it. But, I do expect one thing," he said it in a quiet, reluctant voice. He didn't like giving in. It showed.

"That would depend," Skulduggery said cautiously, mimicking Valkyrie from earlier.

"Go to my house and find Bell. She will need somewhere to go to. I'm sure someone with your resources will find someone," he said, completely serious.

Valkyrie hesitated, and then, "Who's Bell?"

"She's a tabby cat," he said with affection.

"Err… I'll see what we can do," he said awkwardly, "But first, our information, please."

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**He he! I didn't know what to do with the ending, but here you go. I hope you liked it! **

**I will try update again soon!**

**Please review! I need help improving to you know! =**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! Thanks to all of those who have read the last few chapters! I might update later today as well, but I'm not sure. Enjoy! =**

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Chapter 5

This can't be good, he thought as he sat in the cake shop swallowing the last bit of custard cream. Variance must have said something. Good God, he really didn't like Variance.

Banal had killed the girl, but he wasn't sure if this was good or bad yet. Cain's death meant that he had one less enemy to worry about, but Pleasant was not going to let them walk away from that. He would need to put the remainder of his plan into action if he wanted to survive. He decided that her being dead was bad. He didn't like the prospect of an angry Skulduggery Pleasant. He didn't like Banal.

He had thought about what he was going to do about Skulduggery and Banal, and had finally come to a conclusion.

"Banal, I think we need to set up a trap," he told Banal who was about half way through a scone. He left it half way to his mouth as he answered.

"Yeah?"

"We set it up and Pleasant will come straight to us, in his blind rage he will walk right into it," he said.

"That's a good plan. I like that plan. So, what are the actual details of the plan," he questioned, not realising that cream had just fallen on his trousers.

Ah. He hadn't thought of that. "Well, I thought you would be more suited to that. Detailed traps really aren't my thing…" he trailed off.

That raised a small smile on Banal's lips. "Yeah, I know that. How about this, how about I get the plan sorted, I set up the plan, and I make him die once he gets there. I did kill Cain after all. It's only fair I get the best of the fun," Banal chuckled softly.

"Fine," he said in fake dismay, "you kill Pleasant. But where does that put me? What do I do?"

"Looking sulky?"

"I'm serious! What the hell am I going to do?"

"No, I'm serious. You will stand in a corner of the room, some room that no one will see and do nothing. Don't get in the way. That's what you will do," Banal said before taking a bite of a half filled scone, frowning and looking at the scone in confusion.

"If you say so," he said glumly.

"I do say so," Banal said absently, trying to find the disappearing cream, spotting it on his lap and scanned about for a napkin.

He got up and left the shop muttering as he did so, "I may not be able to make a trap, but I can make a plan and eat my food properly."

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This was not fun. Sitting in the Bentley, listening to Skulduggery talk about what they were doing tonight, talk about what he found out while she was asleep, talk about what song was on the radio, talk about what sort of car that is, or who he knew that owned one, or that it just looked good enough to talk about was enough to make anyone explode.

"Good God, will you just shut up?" she half shouted at him as he started to talk about a BMW. Again.

"Yes. But that doesn't mean I will. Like talking. It gives me something to do," he said.

"Yes, but you're so annoying."

"Yes, but I don't care."

"Yeah, but you will when I get even madder and hurt you badly."

"Yes, but I-"

"Stop starting sentences like that."

"OK."

Ten minutes later, they pulled up. They got out and when up the street until they reached a low wall. Hunkering down, they peered at the dark bricked building less than seventy-five yards away.

It looked four stories tall, and she could see a small attachment on the roof with a door. That meant they could also get on the roof. It looked like an old building. All the windows were boarded up, but she could see through one, which had lost just one plank of wood. There was a stair way, which looked to be broken in many places. All in all, Valkyrie decides that it just looked to quiet.

"It sounds quiet," she told Skulduggery.

"I can hear that."

"It looks quiet."

"I can see that, too."

"I hate you. But that is the wrong sort of quiet. Like it will start screaming if we go near it," she said, shivering at the thought of the door flying open and a little girl's scream coming out. The corner of her lip started too slid up until:

"Don't be silly Valkyrie. Buildings don't scream. People scream. And we are looking at a building," he said matter-of-factly.

"It looks like a trap," she insisted.

"No, it looks like a building."

"Oh, my God, I want to punch you so badly."

"You always say that. Now, let's get ourselves in the building."

"I'm telling you, it looks like a trap," she said again but he just waved his hand at her remark and started to walk, hunched over, to the end of the road, to where the trees and better cover was. She followed, glaring at the grey hat on his skull. He happened to be wearing a suit of the same deep grey with a tie and crisp white shirt. Immaculate as usual, much to her displeasure.

Once they reached the trees, each of them took up position behind one. Skulduggery pulled his gun out and checked it had six bullets in, before putting it back in its hoister and looking at the building. Valkyrie watched Skulduggery, hyper-aware of every move he made, so she knew when to go. He nodded to her and they started to run across the grass straight at the building, sliding under the window with the missing board. Skulduggery pressed his hands to the wall and his head dipped a little lower, in concentration, and Valkyrie heard small metal-on-laminated-wood noises. Nails falling to the floor. And after a moment all the boards fell to the floor as well.

Skulduggery got up and launched himself into the corridor gun flicking into his hand, and when Valkyrie heard no gun shots, she got up and pulled herself through the window after him. They walked to the door at the end, sticking to the walls to escape the creaks of the middle floor boards, Skulduggery's gun constantly in his hand, pointing it in every direction.

They checked a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and a small working space. They went to move upstairs, but the first step started to creep, so Valkyrie swiftly removed her foot and looked at Skulduggery. He put an arm around her waist and used the air to fly them from the ground floor to the first floor. Valkyrie's Necromancer ring went cold and icy. She looked at Skulduggery and pointed at her ring. Her cocked his head and then nodded. He motioned for her to take the lead, to direct them the room with the victim, in order to track where the killer was.

She led them to a door and was just reaching out to its handle when she looked at Skulduggery. He put a hand on the small of her back and moved close to her, opening the door himself. He peered in and then Valkyrie and Skulduggery where flying into the room, Valkyrie was to shocked to catch herself and then everything went black.

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**REVIEW! ...please?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Thank you to DarkAntidote for the review, fav and follow! You, and everyone else, are probably going to hate me at the end of this though! = Enjoy!**

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Chapter 6

Valkyrie groaned, without trying to get up. "Didn't I tell you it's was a trap?" she managed to say.

"Actually, you said it _looked_ like it was a trap," Skulduggery corrected. "And that's completely different."

She stuck her arm into the air in the direction of the ceiling, saying, "Whatever."

Skulduggery took her hand and helped her to her feet, just as the door they had 'come' though opened. And Abattoir Banal strode in with an unsettling smile on his lips. She got a better look of him. He didn't wear any jewellery she could see, pale skin, a few freckles on his cheeks. He wore simple clothes; black shoes with dark denim jeans covering some of the lases of said shoes, a practical belt, plain V-neck top and a bomber jacket in deep brown. His hair was short. He had a sort of confused look in his eyes as he looked at Valkyrie, like he simply could not believe what he was seeing.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here on this fine day?" he asked.

"Not a lot. Just a skeleton in a suit and a teenager with an attitude. Usual day-to-day passers-by," Skulduggery replied.

"You don't say."

"Actually I do say."

Banal raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"I said, 'Actually I do say' when you said that I didn't say what I did say. It was rather rude really. I mean, you asked a question, I gave a reply, and you say that I didn't say it. Bad manners if you ask me." Skulduggery said crossing his arms.

"It's a, err, figure of speech," Banal said, confused that the conversation had taken a dramatic twist with such a little amount of words.

"Well, it's not a very good one is it? Because my hypothetical lips are moving and actual words are coming out. These words answered your question."

Banal shook his head from side to side, trying to clear it as Skulduggery continued, and Skulduggery took a sneaky step forwards whilst Banal wasn't looking, "And now look at you. You don't even have the dignity to look me in the imperative eyes as I speak to you. Just why won't you do it? It's really rather simple, just lifting your head a little higher than straight ahead. Everyone else manages it," Skulduggery took another step forwards as Banal puts his hand over his face, "Valkyrie does it, Ravel and Ghastly do it, your friend at the Sanctuary did it. Not hard. Not hard at all. Even the swallows flying south for the winter do it," Skulduggery said suddenly grasping Valkyries full attention.

Skulduggery took a lightning fast two steps and punched Banal in the stomach, lifting him off his feet. Just as he hit the wall, Valkyrie sent a wall of shadows into him. He fell to the floor, with a bleeding nose and his clothes looking like they were sixty years older than they actually were. He looked up slowly, and Valkyrie saw that he was smiling. Valkyrie got the feeling that their opponent was a bit more fruit-loops than she had first thought.

"Damn," Skulduggery suddenly cursed. "It's the pain. Its-"

"Making me stronger. The more you inflict pain on or around me; I will constantly be getting stronger. A little like your Necromancer ring you have, Cain, can gather the death and shadows to be manipulated by you. But more powerful. I can survive a life time on pain," Banal said, and as he did so, a dark red-brown started to leak from the wounds and the blood started to climb into his nose again. "It can heal me. It can sustain me."

Valkyrie looked at him and glanced at Skulduggery, before she could hold it no longer, "That is such a cliché."

"I suppose it is," he said, raising his eyebrows a fraction. "But it's true." He jumped up so fast that Valkyrie and Skulduggery were unable to catch him on his way to the door. He through it open and sprinted out into the hall. They followed him across the landing and into another room. A light turned on, the door slammed shut and Valkyrie was punched right across the jaw all in the same moment.

She fell to the floor, rolling and coming up in a crouch. Skulduggery jumped into Banal's full line of view and Valkyrie took in the full extent of the room as to get into the best position. The whole left and right side of the room was cast into darkness, the light not stretching far enough to reach the wall. The back, front and middle, however, were in a hazy light. She could see Banal holding Skulduggery in a head lock, and the second she did, a red hot fire seemed to coerce through her body, and she jumped straight at Banal, jumping onto his back. Banal's hold on Skulduggery loosened, and he managed get free.

She held onto Banal's back for a few more seconds, while he thrashed and spun, trying hard to throw her off, until he twisted fast, and did a forwards flip, landing on his back, on her. She let go, sucking in a lungful of air. Lifting her head she watched Skulduggery throw another punch, but Banal ducked, and he was half cast into shadows for a second, before an awful screeching sound of a heavy door came and Banal threw himself at Skulduggery, twisting himself and the Skeleton Detective ninety degrees, letting go, bringing his leg up and kicking Skulduggery in the chest.

She heard Skulduggery fall to the floor. She quickly scrambled up to her feet, and looked to Banal who was at the back wall, grinning. He pressed two of the buttons on a small pad that Valkyrie hadn't seen at first, and the lights turned on at the same time as the black, iron prison door closed with another screech. She could see the whole room now. There was only wall on one side, the shadows that were once there, only an illusion of space.  
The other side however, had iron from front to back, and six doors. In the first, nearest to the door, there was a corpse, long dead. In the second there was nothing, but the third there was a man with a grey beard and hair, that must have reached his feet when he stood. If he _could_ stand that was. This man was tied up, even though he was in a cell of iron, a lot like Meritorious had been when she had been shunted into an opposite dimension, his hands in chains above his head. He wore filthy rags, but it was the hair that covered most his body really.

It was the next cell over that Skulduggery was in. He had stood up and was right up to the bars. Shaking them, they made a small spark, and he was thrown back, into the brick wall at the back, where he didn't move at all for several seconds. Valkyrie stared at his unmoving body, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, until he groaned and moved his head to the side. She gave a mental sigh of relief.

The second from end was empty, but had defiantly had someone in it at some point, as she could still see their blood splattered across the wall and floor, dried up, from where they had experienced a violent, messy death. The last cell had a person in it, but he was on the floor, smiling, muttering, and rocking backwards and forwards with his hands around his legs.

The man suddenly swivelled his head in her direction, sensing her eyes watching him. He screamed in gibberish, and jumped to his feet, making a right scene. Banal did not enjoy the little loony-show, however, and he started to kick the door and telling the guy to shut up. This man just shouted harder though. Then, like a button had been mentally pushed, he smiled. Then he grinned. Then he had a knife in his hand. Then he started to laugh. Then, as the grand finale, he took the knife and stabbed himself in the heart, laughing and grinning the whole time, like it was fun, and then fell to the floor. He laughed, grinned, and smiled no more; just laid there on the floor with a knife in his chest, and a stain of blood slowly staining his rags.

She looked at the man with a knife for a few more seconds, before removing her view to Skulduggery, who was looking at the man. She was rather bewildered by all that.

"Without wanting to insult the dead, I really need to be honest: that was the most random, crazy death upon one's self I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of death," Skulduggery said, voicing her thoughts.

Valkyrie tried to move towards the cages, but her foot kicked something on the ground. Skulduggery's gun. It skidded a bit, and then Banal was right there. He picked it up and Valkyrie clicked her fingers, catching a spark and forming a flame in her hand. But then:

"Valkyrie no!" Skulduggery shouted, "Get out!"

"But-" she tried.

"Get out! You promised, remember? Do it!"

She hesitated for only a second, and then turned on her heal and ran out of the door, hearing a bullet miss her head by centimetres.

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**Told you! Review! I can only get better if you review! I tried putting more humour in(for PCRowan), but the story isn't really giving me the space to do it.**

**Also, I was wondering for other stories, so suggestions. Not for this one maybe, but just if there was anything you always wanted to read, but can't find the material!**

**Also, I want you to guess what the secret actually is! Is it power, like the legend says, or is it something else? Guess in the reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi! I'm here to finish the anticipation of the last chapter over to this one, and add some more for this chapter over to the next! Hehe! I'm so evil! =**

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Chapter 7

There had only been six bullets in the first place, and only one had been used. That meant that there were five left. Once again she was thankful that she was wearing the clothes made for her by Ghastly, completely bullet proof, and had saved her life many more times that she was able to say.

Bursting into the landing, she ran straight for the stairs going up, besides the room she had lead them into first off. She when straight up, taking the stairs three at a time, glad for being taller than average, for having longer legs.

She ran onto the second-floor landing, turned left, then right, and up the stairs again. She heard the man running up, and used the air to blast the door off its hinges. Going straight onto the roof top, she ran to the flower bed made of concrete, dead bushed and what once were flowers, or maybe it was just leaves, shrivelled up in the middle. She didn't care. All she cared about was the man who was almost at the top of the stairs, with a gun, and five bullets. She went around the side of the Flower Bed of Death, and ducked down behind it.

The man suddenly burst out from the door. She could hear him. To get a better idea, she used the air to feel where it was being disturbed, to find where he was. She started to consider the possibilities of what might happen. They didn't look to good. She could stay here, and hope he went away, fight him, slip past leaving him on the roof and get Skulduggery, or run away. But she couldn't stay here, she decided. He would find her eventually. She couldn't get Skulduggery, because as long as he was standing there, she couldn't slip past.

So she could break her promise to Skulduggery and fight him, or swallow her pride and jump off the roof, to run away. Stupid promise, she thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She couldn't break it. He would prefer her to run away that break it. But now she needed to get to the edge before Banal could shoot her in the head, resulting in her death.

She damned all to Hell, with Banal at the front line. She got up, and ran straight to the edge, a bullet hitting her arm. Her jacket absorbed the impact, but it still made her stumble, and then she felt a pain in her left foot. She when down, again, in agonising pain. This time, however, the pain stayed in just her foot instead of spreading. Banal strode up to her, taking his time, gun in hand, concentration and confusion in his face.

"How did you do it?" he queried. "No one ever lives, unless I let them. If I leave the pain there, then it spreads and kills. If I stay, I can focus it in one place only, if I wish to. I can take it way completely. I left you in pain, and you survived. How?" She didn't answer him, both because she was in pain and she didn't know how she had done it.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO IT?" He suddenly screamed at her, furious. She jumped.

"I don't know! I have no idea how. I blacked out and was unconscious for ages," she said, and the pain suddenly increased, and she screamed.

"I think you lie. Tell me or I _will_ kill you," he threatened.

"If you killed me then I would never be able tell you, cause I'll be dead," she pointed out.

"Whatever," he snapped.

"Well it is. And I'm in too much pain to even think straight anyway, so whatever to you."

He seemed to compensate for a moment, through the focus, and then in cleared, and the pain subsided. She didn't get up yet, even though her leg felt like normal, like there had never been pain there in the first place. He flexed his hand over the gun. Four bullets, she reminded herself.

They looked at each other for a few moments, and then he said, "So what did happen then? You didn't die, because you're here. You're not hurt, because Pleasant wouldn't let you come here like that," he paused, frowned, opened his mouth, closed it, and then, "Why did you leave him? You're supposed to be inseparable. But you ran away and-" he stopped suddenly. In fact, he was quiet so long that she had to try not to shuffle.

He started to smile again. "You're afraid, aren't you?" saying it like it was the best thing he had heard in years. "You're too scared to get him back, because I'm here, stopping you. You're afraid of me. Good job, really. I am a scary person after all!" and he started to laugh, throwing his head back. She used this opportunity to get into a crouching position.

"Oh, my God. You're really not too bright are you?" she said to him, trying not to just throw herself at him. He had called her 'afraid'. He said she ran away. Well, OK, she thought. Maybe I did run away, but that was because I had to. I'd promised, really trying to let her mind calm her - before she throttled him.

He stopped laughing when she said that. Without speaking, he raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, but she was faster, launching herself towards him. The bullet missed her, going through where her throat had been moments ago. She probably would be dead, if she hadn't already started moving before he had fully raised the gun.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on as hard as she could. She wrapped her legs around his waist, his head on her shoulder, trying to throw her off. She didn't let go. Not this time. Not now. He only had three bullets left. If she could just get him to use up the rest of them, then she would have a much better chance of defeating him, if it came to it.

Banal was getting weaker. She was strangling him, and he was running out of air. If he thought she was going to kill him, he would start making rash decisions.

Right on cue, he shot blindly. It didn't hit her. In fact, it was such a bad shot; he was left with a graze on his own leg. He cried out, the sound muffled by her shoulder. He dropped to his knees, his hands clawing at her clothes, refusing to let a teenage girl beat him. She clung on, even when she felt him scratch her back under her clothes, making her bleed, even when he hit her, and made her bruises. She would not let him do it.

Then they fell to the floor. He was still conscious, because he was moving on top of her. Then she flipped them over, so she was on top, and he now had her weight on his lungs as well. He shot again, accidental, and it went somewhere into the sky. She heard its echo a second later. And then he stopped moving. He was alive; she could feel his heartbeat, just unconscious.

She suddenly heard a vibration and jumped. She recognised it, and realised it was her phone. Checking her pockets, she noticed that she had dropped it, and walked up to the dead shrubbery, bent and picked up said phone. She checked the missed call and walked back the way she had come, knowing it would be better to get Skulduggery first.

She started to text back, and then stopped short. There was a shadow in front of her, and it was Banal's. He had the gun in his hand, his face red with rage.

"You can't beat me," he growled.

"Oh, yeah?" she said.

"Your just a girl. A stupid little girl."

"A stupid little girl who just beat up," she said with a half-smile. His face started to turn purple.

"You just think this is a game, don't you? You actually think you can beat me. Well, I still have one bullet left, and I'm a million times more powerful than you," he turned to a whisper, "I'm going to kill you, and drag you down the steps by your hair. Then I'll put you in front of the Skeleton's cell, and he won't be able to not look at you."

She stopped smiling; imagining the agony it would course Skulduggery. She should have run like she'd promised. "You kill me, he'll kill you."

"He's in a cell, love," he said. "I kill you, he stays in that cell, and I leave your body in front of the door for ever. Maybe I'll burn your body when the smell becomes too much, and he can keep the ashes. Would you like that?" She watched his face slowly turn back to normal as he said this, and her anger level elevated higher than ever.

"I'll kill you. Now," she said. She could see amusement in his eyes. She continued in a voice of exaggerated calmness, "You have two options. Drop the gun and let me put some shiny cuffs on you, or fight me, and end up with no gun and in cuffs. The same outcome, but you keep some dignity with one of the options. I'll let you decide which."

"That's ever so nice of you for giving me the option, and I think I'll pick… none of the above, thank you very much," he said. "I'll never be in a cage, like an animal. I'm a feared enemy. I'm more than anyone else. I'll never go in a gaol."

He brought up the gun and Valkyrie yelled, "No!" milliseconds before he pulled the trigger.

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**= Keep reviewing! I want guesses on what the secret will do! (I don't even know yet! I NEED someone to guess!) =**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! I am here to destroy more tension! I think I will update twice today! Because I am the almighty Queen of Cliffhangers! But I also hate cliffhangers so I'm not sure if I'm proud of the title yet or not...**

**(*This is what was happening with Skulduggery when Valkyrie and Banal were fighting on the roof. It starts with Skulduggery telling Valkyrie to uphold her promise she made! Enjoy!)**

**(*This is from a new characters perspective!)**

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Chapter 8

"Valkyrie, no!" The skeleton shouted, "Get out!"

"But-" the girl tried.

"Get out! You promised, remember? Do it!"

She hesitated for only a second, and then turned on her heel and ran out of the door, a gunshot missing her head by centimetres. Banal, far too smug, sauntered over to Skeleton's cage and said, calmly, "I hope they were meaningful last words," and turned around towards the door, and said over his shoulder, like he was just pointing out the weather, "Because I'm about to kill her. She won't last five seconds," Banal said with a smile in his voice, and walked out the room, leaving the lights on and door open a crack.

The skeleton, on his behalf, didn't even reply, probably knowing it was useless. Not a whole lot you can do, when you're in a cage of iron and magic.

Suddenly, the well-dressed skeleton turned and kicked a bowl so hard it ricocheted back and landed exactly where it had been at the start, but upside down. That made him laugh hysterically.

The skeletons head snapped in his direction. "I'm sorry, but I really fail to see what's so funny about this situation."

He kept chuckling. "It's that bowl, that's what's funny." His voice really rather croaky, from not being used in a long while. He could hear footsteps running up the stairs, and a pair of slower feet going, a bit further back.

"Yes, hilarious."

"I know."

The Skeleton looked at him for a moment, and then said, "Good God, you're not exactly too bright are you?" he said dryly. He'd insulted him.

"You just insulted me, you did" he said, frowning and no longer laughing.

"Oh, you don't say." He didn't reply.

The running had stopped now. They had reached the roof. Nothing moved, and no one said anything. There wasn't any gunshots, but he didn't say it, in case he tabooed it.

"What's at the top?" The Skeleton suddenly whispered, listening out for any sounds.

He shrugged his thin shoulders, making the chains that hold his arms above his head rattle. "Haven't a clue. I was brought into this house, dragged into the cage, and haven't been out of the room since. He sometimes does something on that pad of his, and he can torture me with magic, but I'm still unable to use it myself, and I have no chance of defence."

There was suddenly a gunshot. A few seconds went by, then a scream, by the girl. He looked at the Skeleton, and saw that his hands were fists, and his head was bowed slightly. Then a shout. He couldn't hear the words, but knew it was by Banal. The girl had obviously not given him his answer straight away. Banal hated being kept waiting.

"Who are you?" the Skeleton asked an edge in his voice.

"You don't need to know my name. I'm just another person that's missing, assumed dead. There are hundreds like me," he said sadness in his voice. "I call myself C whenever someone asks. Which isn't often," he asked with a small smile. "Yours?"

"Skulduggery Pleasant. Detective, by order of the Sanctuary of Ireland," Skulduggery the Skeleton said formally.

Neither said anything for a moment and then there was another gunshot. Nothing else was heard for a while.

"Who is that girl of yours, hu?" C asked Skulduggery.

He hesitated for a moment and then, "Her name is Valkyrie Cain. She's my partner in crime. I trained her to be a detective and she is still learning is every other aspect every day. She does a lot of martial arts training and some other things which I can't tell you about." Skulduggery Pleasant seemed occupied, and trying to in get angry.

"Very nice," he murmured in approval.

There was another gunshot. Neither the Detective nor C moved or spoke. There was no sounds or anything else, and it stayed like that for another minute, before another bang came from the gun. Nothing happened for a moment. Another moment went by. And another. After about five minutes of nothing he sighed.

"I'm sorry mate," C said.

"She isn't dead," Skulduggery said like he was insulted.

"You heard the gu-" he was cut off by a sudden scream followed seconds later by a _bang_.

"Well, you may have been right before," he said. "But I'm not so convinced. If she was or wasn't before, there's no denying she must be now."

"Like you know."

"I do know. She's gone now. He'd have killed her. I'm just surprised it took him so long. Anyone he wants to keep to torture, just for the hell of it, like me, are normally brought down here faster than that," C said. "And anyone else, the ones he wishes to kill, are usually dead quicker than that. He doesn't play with his food, like."

"Shut. Up." Skulduggery said.

"Now that's not very nice," he said, scowling. "You may be angry, but don't take it out on me. I didn't kill the girl. Banal killed her. I can't kill anyone, I'm stuck-"

"I said," he interrupted, in a scary voice, "_SHUT THE HELL UP!" _ He shouted at him, in one of the scariest voices C had ever heard.

C was quiet for a moment and then, "I'm sorry. I really am. But Abattoir Banal never loses," Skulduggery tried to interrupt, but C talked over him, "Everyone dies. You need to accept that she's dead."

The Detective was very quiet for a few moments, and it would have been overly uncomfortable for anyone other than a man who had been chained to a wall for many years.

"I don't care what you say," Skulduggery said, and C became aware of footsteps slowly descending the stairs, as if afraid to make too much noise. "If Valkyrie is dead, then Banal will be next." He said it with his head slightly lowered and his hands clenched. His voice was deathly serious, only just audible.

"I don't-" but, once again, he was interrupted.

"AND I DON'T _CARE_ WHAT YOU _THINK_! SHE MAY OR MAY NOT BE _DEAD_, AND EITHER WAY I WILL _KILL_ _BANAL_," he shouted at him, in pure rage. "Just _shut_ _up_, will you. You know _nothing_."

C decided there was no use in replying. He just looked away, to the same spot he looked at every time he had nothing to do. Which happened to be often. The Skeleton's only move was to look down completely, but didn't move his body that was facing the back wall of his cell. The footsteps had sped up now, had gained more confidence.

A few moments past, and Banal made his way to the door. C couldn't see a shadow, but knew he was there. He'd stopped outside the room.

Then a hand came around the door frame, long thin fingers and short nails. Then came a body dressed of black trousers, boots and jacket. There was a phone in the other hand. Then C moved his eyes to the face, and saw Valkyrie Cain's.

"You're surprise is insulting," she said, glancing at him.

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**HeHeHe! Hope you liked! Please, try guess the ending! I know roughly what I'm doing so your hardly ruining it for me! =**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello! =**

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Chapter 9

Skulduggery snapped his head in her direction, a move that would have pulled almost all the muscles in her neck if she tried it.

"Valkyrie! You're alive. But… how'd you give him the slip?" he asked.

She walked up to the cage door, feeling her expression change to show the horror and sickness of what had happened.

When she had been there, he raised the gun, and she screamed. But then he smiled and said "Oh, this isn't for you," and moved the gun, he raised it to the top of his neck and aimed it up, as if into the sky, and shot.

The bullet would have gone through his neck, ripped through the back of his mouth, and torn through the muscle and flesh there, hitting the brain and going through it. The bullet would have fracture the skull, after passing through the brain like a knife, and killing him almost immediately.

When she had recovered from the shock of what she had been to slow to look away from, she had walked back over to the body, using the shadows to search for the gun. When the shadows sent it skidding to her foot, she picked it up and made her slow descent down the stairs. On the way she had faintly remembered the missed call and had stopped outside the door to put the phone back away.

When she told Skulduggery this, without so much detail, he listened intently, and didn't interrupt. When she finished, he stood there for a while, and she asked him her first question, bringing him out of his little zone.

"Why would he do that? I mean, I know that he wouldn't want to be hunted down and shot by you, but he wouldn't have been. You're in this cage. He had the gun," she said. "You couldn't have killed him."

"I'm not too sure. I mean, what an enigmatic thing to do," Skulduggery said mystified. "But that's not on the top of our problems. Firstly, we need to stop this Wane Fiend, and in that, we will stop him from getting whatever these Secrets are. The rest will follow," he said, picking up his hat.

"Um, Skulduggery?"

"Yes Valkyrie?"

"You're still in the cage."

He looked around. "Oh yes. It seems I am. Go to that pad over there on the wall. What does it say?"

She looked at it. There were a few buttons, all encrusted with filth. Above that was a laminated sheet, and she took it down, spat on it and wiped away the dust and blackened filth. It was, as she had thought, a grid saying what each of the buttons was for.

"The first says, 'Lights', the second says, 'Electrocute'," she looked down the list, until she came to the bottom where it said, 'Open doors'. "Ah, here it is. Should I press it?"

"Might as well," came Skulduggery's voice behind her. She pressed it and all the doors screeched open.

Grinning, she walked over to get the strange man chained to the wall out of his cage, but as she walked passed Skulduggery, he wrapped his bony arms around her, giving her a hug. She hugged him back, leaning her head against his rip bones. He was cold, and she could feel the hard shape of the holstered gun next to her forehead, but she didn't mind.

"What's this for?" she said with a light smile in her voice. He let her go and stood back.

"I thought you were dead. I thought that you were actually dead."

She smiled. "I'm not dead. Banal's dead. That guy over there," she gestured towards the man with a knife in his chest," he's dead. You're dead. But I'm not dead."

Skulduggery shook his head and said, "And, yet again, you take all seriousness out of the conversation. I'm trying to have a moment here, and you go off grinning and telling me who is and isn't dead," he said it with his head cocked at one angle, and she knew he was grinning. She walked into the other man's cage with a laugh.

* * *

Valkyrie sat on one of the chairs in the medical bay, watching two of the doctors try and fix the man called C. She had been sent in there to help them, because he kept on kicking up a fuss, making it impossible to heal him. When she had walked into the room she'd had to save Doctor Nye from him, even though it was very amusing. She had seen many of the doctors and patents laughing at it.

She had been sitting there, on that plastic chair, for quite a while, but had spent a bit of time questioning C. He had said an awful lot, but failed to give her more than a few useless facts. She had been told that he would be treated for his insanity later on.

Talking to Skulduggery through text for at least an hour had been her only way of amusement as he always wrote things as though he was saying them, making it ridiculous and difficult to understand, but he had suddenly stopped. Someone walked up behind her, grabbed her shoulder and made her cry out, just as she was about to call him.

It was Skulduggery. Hitting his arm she said, "What the hell? That was unnecessary."

"Maybe, but the look on your face was incredibly amusing to see."

"So why are you her then?" she asked, glaring at him.

"I've arranged to have Variance in the interrogation room. He should be there by the time we get there," he said, and started to walk.

She matched his stride and asked, "What exactly are you hoping to get out of him this time? Have you even done anything about the cat yet?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. It shall be my secret weapon against him. After, you can keep her if you like."

"Keep Bell? Skulduggery, I hate cats. They smell, and get fur everywhere, and get in your way, breed like gremlins, and plot against you and the world," she matter-of-factly said. "One day, we might be fighting a war against cats. Forget mass murderous serial killers. We'll be fighting hairballs."

"Define 'mass murderous serial killers' please."

"Serpine, Mevolent, Hitler. The general lot," she replied.

"Oh, Ok then."

She waved her hand, as if get rid of the thoughts she was having. "But that's not the point. What's the cat got to do with anything? What's so important about it?"

"Don't worry. You'll understand. And if you don't then I'll tell you later."

"Can't you just tell me please?"

"No. Because that would ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it?" he said, right before turning around the corner to the interrogation rooms. There was a man outside one of them, and he took Skulduggery a little way down the hall to discuss something, probably something stealthy, and secret, and something she will not like. Nevertheless, she left them there to discuss, and only raised an eyebrow as he walked back, alone and opened the door.

She walked in after him, but instead of sitting down, she stood by the door. Skulduggery sat, put his elbows on the table and entwined his fingers. He looked at Variance. Variance looked at him. They watched each other for a few moments.

"What do you want this time?" Variance asked, breaking the silence.

"We need to know where it was you were going to conduct the getting of these Secrets, say you get hold to the Jug," Skulduggery said plainly.

"Don't know," he said, smiling.

"That's the worst, most obvious lie I've heard in a long time. And I've heard some really bad lies," Skulduggery replied.

"That's because it is a lie, and I wanted it to come across that way. It's supposed to mean, 'Yes, of course I know. But I'm not going to tell you'."

"We went through this last time. You know the rules."

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Valkyrie open the door. They know what to do," Skulduggery said.

She arched he eyebrow but did as he said. Nothing happened for a moment, and then the man came in, shutting the doors behind him. He was holding a cardboard box. Was he really going to do what she thought he was about to do?

The man placed the box on the table, just in front of Skulduggery. He stood back respectfully as Skulduggery opened the box. He put his hand in and brought out the cat.

Bell, as it happened, was one of the most fluffy, ugly cats she had ever seen. She looked like she'd run into a brick wall, and then been electrocuted. She had a brown-yellow coat, which looked awfully like sick. Disgusting creature, she thought.

"Do what we say," Skulduggery said, "or I'll kill the cat."

Variance faltered and then smiled and frowned at the same time. "You wouldn't kill a child. Why kill a kitten?"

"To get what I want, that's why," he replied in a serious voice, taking his gun out.

Variance lost the smile completely. The Detectives could almost see the gears working in his head. Tell them, cats safe. Don't tell them, cat dies. Obviously, he really did love the hairball, because he suddenly bursts out with:

"Its on a roof top! I can write down the address if you want. Just don't hurt Belly. Please," he begged eyes wide. What a weirdo, Valkyrie thought.

"Thank you," Skulduggery said, putting the gun away. The other man got some paper and a pen out of a pocket and handed it to the prisoner. He wrote down an address and handed over the paper. The man took it and gave it to Skulduggery. "Good, good," he said, and put the cat in the box by the scruff of the neck. He got up and left, the other man holding the box, and both the man and Valkyrie followed him out.

Valkyrie followed Skulduggery down the hall, but the other man walked away with the box into another room.

"Skulduggery?"

"Yes Valkyrie?"

"You wouldn't have really shot the kitten would you?" Valkyrie asked him, frowning.

"I thought you hated cats?"

"I do," she said defensively. "But it would have made a really big mess, and, really, what a waste of a bullet, and… and…" she faulted.

"Whoa. That's an extensive list you have there," Skulduggery said, patronising her.

She hit his arm, hard. "Shut up. Where is this roof anyway?"

"Well, usually, roof tops are up high and-"

"Oh, my God. Skulduggery Pleasant, if you don't give me a straight answer right now I'll kill you."

"It's not far from here, I promise," he paused for a moment. "And you do realise that I'm already dead, right? So you couldn't have _actually_ killed me…"

"I'd have _hurt_ you, then," she snapped.

"Oh, OK then," Skulduggery said as they left through the Sanctuary's main door.

* * *

**= I'm not sure about the interrogation part, but I couldn't think of anything else. Lets be honest, he is probably really insane anyway, with very little brain cells to start with, so whatever!**

**Guess the ending! =**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! Tell me what you think once you read it! Remember, even Guests can review!**

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Chapter 10

He stood there on the river bank. As he stood there, he thought to himself, When I'm in power, the water won't make a loud, annoying noise, the moon won't pester me at the edge of my eye, giving me a headache. When I'm in power, that God damned duck will do something other than swim in a circle again and again.

Once he thought about it, a smile formed on his lips. He clicked his fingers, caught the spark, and turned it into a flame. Then took aim at the duck, and threw the fireball. The duck instantly began to burn freely, its whole body covered in flames.

He turned around from the animal in flames, and proceeded to walk down the small footpath. There wasn't a lot of time until midnight. Not that it really mattered to him. Getting the secrets from the jug could be done at any time, but midnight just felt _right_ to him.

He didn't bother looking around any more. Pleasant and Cain were dead. That made him grin, but he stopped and snarled immediately, remembering how much he hated toothy grins. He knew that it had not gone smoothly for Banal. He had driven up to Banal's personal safe house to find it being swarmed by Cleavers and sanctuary agents. He had sat in his car, watching for at least half an hour before driving off. He hadn't even seen Skulduggery Pleasant's hat!

In his right hand was a small brown bag, made of non-damageable leather. That meant that if you put a fragile glass copy of a willow tree in the bag and spent all of ten years throwing the bag down a cliff, the glass willow tree would be undamaged when you took it out again. But that bag didn't hold a glass willow tree. Oh, no, it held something much more beautiful than that, in his eyes. The Lost Jug.

Just the thought sent a shiver down his back. He opened up his bag, as he turned the corner into the street he would be receiving his long-awaited, well-deserved power. The Jug itself was somewhat unremarkable. But he knew that it was defiantly The Jug because he could find obvious, detectable signs of magic around it. He didn't like obvious things.

He looked at his face in the shiny silver surface of The Jug. His pig-like nose looked too big, and his grey-blue eyes were too long. But that may be because he was looking into the side of The Jug which was rounded. He could also see his many dark freckles entwined with what the mortals called 'patterns'. Really, they were magic symbols, probably drawn to keep the Secrets inside.

He stopped admiring himself and put the Jug back into the bag. Looking up, he brimmed with confidence. Unable to contain the excitement that bubbled deep inside him, he ran to the side of the five story building and stopped at an iron ladder. Clenching the straps of the bag between his slightly off-white teeth, he used the air to bring him up to the top edge of the building, where there was a small gap between the roof floor and brick wall. Sighing softly, he took the bag from his mouth and walked over to the book placed on a pedestal in the centre. All he needed to do now was say a passage and all the Secrets would be his.

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**This one is a bit short, but I hope you all like it! There isn't much left of the story, but this is the point where my concentration stopped when I started writing it about a year ago. But I am going to finish it! **

**Undated might start getting slower, but I will try my best to keep them long (unlike this) and awesome!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello! Thank you for all the support so far! I'm glad you are liking it! Enjoy! (This one is much longer!)**

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Chapter 11

What an amazing plan they had. It truly was. Well, it wasn't so much of a plan than a series of events. Also, all those events were unlikely to happen, much less in that order. So when you look at it that way, it wasn't that much of an amazing plan.

Valkyrie was seething in the front seat of the Bentley. Skulduggery had been talking but had stopped when he had glanced over at her, to see her glaring at him, as though she was a murderous tigress about to go for the kill. Now she was just looking out of the window. A few more minutes later, the car slowed to a stop at the side of the street and she unbuckled her seat belt. Again, she thought about what all the other seventeen year old girls did in their free time. It wasn't this. They didn't go up against stupid, old, evil people who thought it would be a good idea to take over the world. At the moment they were warm in bed, or out at a club.

She got out of the car and walked around the front of the car to the path. They walked in silence, crossing roads, and walking through dirty street, sticking to the shadows like almost all sorcerers had learnt to do to stay out of sight of the non-magical world. She put on a face of calm and blankness, so the passers-by wouldn't be suspicious of the tall, slim man and dark haired girl walking about in the cold in expensive clothes, any more than they needed.

Standing next to Skulduggery on the edge of the pathway, they looked up at the tall building. It was run-down, but proud and tall, positioned a little away from all the other buildings, like it was insulting them and they couldn't bear to be witnessed next to it.

Valkyrie briefly wondered why Fiend had chosen this place to get his Secrets, as he seemed obsessed with. She was about to ask Skulduggery where he thought Fiend would be, when he nudged her elbow, and then pointed to the alleyway to their right. It was faint, but she could see a ladder. Her eyes followed it up and saw there was a wall about a meter high running along whole building, probably to make the building look bigger that it actually was. Where the ladder ended, however, there was a small gap to get onto the roof, proving that the designer new how to get onto a roof from a big, high ladder, without the risk of falling.

"That's where he'll be," Skulduggery said. "OK, so Fiend, hopefully, thinks that we're dead. That gives us the advantage as he doesn't think anyone, let alone us. Now, being as unadventurous as he is, everything would have been set up before hand, and he would just have to turn up and use the Book of Eccentric, say some words and he will, supposedly, be an almighty sorcerer of unimaginable power."

"Supposedly?" Valkyrie asked.

"Ah, you see, I read through a few of our very, very oldest myths, the ones that were written in Irish and mostly spelt wrong. You need first to acknowledge how amazing I really am," he looked at Valkyrie and Valkyrie looked at him. Neither gave in until Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, ever so slowly and pointed out that there was an evil guy about to take over the world.

"Quite so Valkyrie. Well I found out that while you do need to say this lovely long passage, about two pages long, then you also need to do something more. Give an offering."

"I don't follow."

"To put it into teenage language, you know them movies where someone needs to give the gods an offering of a life, in order to get something like eternal life? Like that Pirates of the Caribbean movie you liked?"

"Well, obviously I do. I am a teenager. And how could I forget the hot dudes," she muttered.

"And then," he carried on as if Valkyrie didn't speak, "the evil guy offers up the good guy as the offering, but doesn't realise that that gives the good guy the eternalness. Roughly like that, anyway. Well, in this, after someone reads the passage, you need to give an offering, a part of yourself. In this particular case, blood."

"Oh, my God. Was this farmer guy an emo? Is that why it wants blood? Or was this sorcerer-witch-person a vampire?" Valkyrie questioned, looking at him with wide eyes.

He sighed. "Yes Valkyrie. Yes, of course," then he looked up at the building as if just remembering they were there on a case. "Right here's the plan. I'll go up first, distract him, and you wait on the other side of the building, hiding behind a thing. Then-"

"A thing?" Valkyrie interrupted.

"Yes Valkyrie, a thing. I don't know what's up there to hide behind yet. Now, once I have got him distracted, you come out from behind the thing, grab the book and the Jug and run off with them. Take them to the river, hide the Jug in a bush and run off, and if he is following, he will think your still holding the book and the Jug. I on the other hand will be distracting Fiend at first, then giving a signal, then fighting with Fiend, and then I may be being pushed off of a building. By the way, he is known for pushing people off buildings. I would know. If there is anyone else, maybe some Infected or Hollow Men, then I will fight them, and keep them back. Understood?"

"Not really," Valkyrie replied.

"That's the spirit," Skulduggery said cheerfully.

He started across the street and Valkyrie followed, falling into step next to him. They parted at the front of the building, needing to twist around each other to get by, Valkyrie going left, Skulduggery right. Once she was in the alleyway, she got a sudden sense of claustrophobia, but she took a deep breath, she told herself to stop being a baby and that she had been in smaller places. She jogged down the side of the two buildings until she reached about midpoint. She looked up and saw the top of the outer building on the roof. She stood beneath it and flexed her fingers. She felt the ways the air connects and then snapped out her palms and caught a gust of wind up to the roof-side. Her hands griped the cold brick and she hauled herself up so she could just see the top of Wane Fiends head.

He was looking away, so she took the advantage and hauled herself up the rest of the way, swinging her legs over and running behind the outer building. She crouched down behind it and sent a text to Ghastly, telling him that both she and Skulduggery were in position and about to attack. He had asked for updates earlier on that day. Her phone buzzed silently and she looked at a text saying, 'Good 2 know. Keep me updated when able. Ravel got his phone back; Tipstaff wants to kill him. Good luck!'

She tucked her phone away, and waited for Skulduggery to start his role in the plan. She didn't move. She didn't want to risk being seen by him, and ruining the small first part of Skulduggery's Great Plan.

"Hello," suddenly said the all too familiar voice of Skulduggery Pleasant. He was a way a way so Valkyrie felt sure she could take a peek at what was going on. Skulduggery stood there, with his hands in his pockets, looking somewhat casual about what was happening. Fiend, however, looked like a startled fish. His mouth was open and his eyes were bulging, plus he had gone a shade whiter.

"Are you OK? You look startled. I think you're in shock," Skulduggery continued. "Is it me? It must be, why else would you be in shock? Is it the way I'm dressed? Or maybe my dashingly good-looks? Perhaps both…" He talked until he saw Fiend coming out of his shocked state. Probably good, Valkyrie thought, because he would have carried on like that for hours.

"How are you still alive? I thought you were dead," he managed at long last.

Skulduggery cocked his head to one side. "I am dead," he said plainly.

Fiend, who seemed to have gotten himself back together at that point, then went into a state of confusion. "No, no, you died, not like the first time, but you died again. You didn't come back out of the house, I was watching. How are you still here?"

"You miss understand me. I am dead. Not like before. I am Skulduggery Pleasant, but I am his… ghost, "he decided after a moment. Not a pause because he didn't know what to say, but a pause for effect. "I don't want to move on you see."

"Why wouldn't you want to do that? Death, as in proper death, must be better that being a walking skeleton. You could move on that way. And now you are a skeleton ghost. That's even worse for you!"

"I'm not moving on. I want to settle what has started."

"And," Fiend said cautiously, "what would that be?"

"Valkyrie died because of you. So did a few others. And now you are trying to claim the Secrets of the lost Jug."

"I didn't kill them!" Skulduggery started to approach, so he took a few steps back, afraid. "Banal and Variance, they did it, they are the killers! I'm innocent. Look at me! I couldn't hurt a thing," he pleaded.

"I don't believe you, Fiend. I think you did it," and then Skulduggery said the code to get ready for the code to attack. "Are the sparrows are about to fly?"

Valkyrie stood. She didn't come into view, but she went around the side. Skulduggery has scared and confused the enemy and was driving him back to the edge. They both knew that Fiend didn't hold any threat on his own, but if he did get the secrets and they happened to make him powerful, if they told him a secret that could be used as a weapon, then they might be in big trouble.

She went into a sprinters starting stance, like athletes do at the start of a running race and got ready, banishing all thoughts from her mind. Every sound seemed to fade completely. She thought Banal and Skulduggery made one final comment to each other, but that wasn't what her mind was looking for, so she barely heard it. And then:

"The sparrows fly south for the winter," Skulduggery said, her mind hearing those words as if they had been shouted in her ear.

She jumped up, and sprinted the hundred odd yards, over to where the book was standing on the pedestal. It may have been the fastest she had run in a long time, as she was a long way away compared to Fiend and Skulduggery. She grabbed the book, but not after hearing Fiend screamed his battle cry and charged. Not strong, Valkyrie reasoned, but very fast. Skulduggery grabbed Fiends coat but Fiend ripped it off, barely slowing.

Skulduggery ran to grab him, and got his hand. They started to scuffle, with knees, elbows and locks. In about five seconds, Banal had dropped the Jug from and Skulduggery rolled them away.

Valkyrie grabbed the jug from the roof surface, just as Skulduggery when flying over her head, over the roof, the roof next-door, and fell down the alley between next-door and two buildings away. She then heard a few smashes and a cat screeching. Valkyrie looked back at Fiend. He looked at her.

With the two objects in hand, she ran to the side of the building, using the air to propel herself, hearing Fiend behind her.

* * *

**Hehehehe! I love this! I love me to, but this is awesome!**

**The next chapter will take longer, as the rest of what I have wrote has been on my laptop for almost a year. So I will take some time to write it. But it will be awesome so don't worry! **

**Reviews make me work faster! =)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello! Sorry about the wait! I need to actually spend time writing now!**

_**Sub-Chapter's POV = 1-Valkyrie. 2-Fiend. 3-Valkyrie. 4-Ghastly**_

**Enjoy! =)**

* * *

Chapter 12

As soon as she hit the ground she was running. Over dirty piles of rubbish and around the odd rubbish bin. The whole time she could hear Wane Fiend behind her, slowly catching up, but she wasn't going down easily.

In her mind, the only thing she could see was Skulduggery going over the roof tops and the clatter of him hitting the ground. She used that anger that fear of what happened to push her faster. By God, she was not going to lose to this man.

However, in the rush to get to the river, she must have taken a wrong turn. She ended up at the end of an alleyway, and used the air to go straight over the brick wall, and carried on to the end. Trying to use logic in her head and Think of Geography in her head, she carried on running.

She remembered learning about rivers and how they meander and erosion and where they start. Most likely, this one meandered as well, and as there was a slight drop in the path now and then, and the houses were mostly on their own platforms to stay level, if she just followed the slop, she will either reach of see the river at some point.

With this in mind, she turned left and with new speed and purpose, started to gain speed. When Fiend had run at her earlier, on the roof, he had been all speed. But not much muscle. So he was beginning to slow, while her strength let her carry on with her speed.

She crossed a road, followed a lane and eventually left the buildings and houses. She ran along a country road, not the one Skulduggery had drove them down. The ground was hard and occasionally uneven, the only sounds being two pairs of running feet and two sets of breathing. Fiend's breath was coming out fast now, gasping for air, as she led them to the river.

And there it was, to her right, about five hundred yards away. Veering off in that direction, she dropped the jug in the bush, knowing that Fiend wouldn't find it. Gripping the book, and still running, Valkyrie was about fifty yards from the river.

But she had done to well for it to last. Valkyrie was pushed off her feet, and sent hurtling through the air, landing in a thorn bush which scraped and cut as much of her skin as possible when she scrambled out. Realising that he wasn't holding the book any more, she looked for it, hoping to see it outside the bush so she didn't need to lung in there again.

It wasn't there. It wasn't anywhere. Not seeing it there, and assuming she had dropped it when 'flying' she spun around again. There was Fiend. His cheeks were still a little pink from his running experience, but his breathing was normal again; and there, in his hand, was the book.

"Ah," she said. "That wasn't part of the plan."

"Well, that's too bad, now isn't it?" Fiend replied. He looked angry and victorious and, she noticed, a little arrogant. Like he had known all along that he would have got the book back eventually. "But don't worry, sweet, I'll make your death quick. After all, you were only doing your job. You can hardly be blamed."

Thinking fast she said, "Does that mean you're gonna do it? Your actually gonna win, aren't you!" She exclaimed excitedly. She looked around, as if cautious someone would overhear. "How? What needs to be done? I will help, I can do it! Skulduggery would be so mad, but he always had it coming. He tried to make me one of the good guys, but where is the fun?"

"Where indeed," Fiend replied, sounding superior. Her acting really was impeccable.

"And now he'd dead, and I bet that has ghost dissipated after his fall, and now I'm free of him! You saved me! I need to do something in return. Tell me what to do, and I will do it," she said, trying to look eager.

He pondered this for a moment. Then: "I know! Die!" And he raised his spare hand, which had a gun had seemingly materialised in, and shot.

The bullet could never have gotten through her clothes. She knew that. Fiend must have also, because when that bullet hit, it went into the gap between the waistband of her trousers and the bottom of her jacket. His aim was amazing. Maybe as amazing as Skulduggery's aim. The eleven millimetres of lead went through her skin and intestines and all the other important organs about an inch and a half below her belly button.

* * *

Fiend smiled. His shot truly had been good. He actually had forgotten about her protective clothes, but he had wanted to see the mark he made with the bullet and so had shot the skin at about her hips. It was a good feeling. But he didn't like that he had forgotten something. That was bad.

As she sunk to her knees, the poison on the bullet taking affect, he lifted the book and started to read. The Jug may not actually be with him at that moment, but the secrets would transfer to him once her said it.

But the feeling he got from defeating both enemy _before _he had the power was amazing. It proved his worth as an all-powerful leader, as a villain. He felt good. So, as he started to read, he smiled slightly, even though he didn't like people smiling when they read. But who was going to see? Cain's head was bowed, her arms around the wound, slowly dying.

* * *

Valkyrie fell to her knees. Fiend was reading from the book, and she could feel the power, a slight wind and a tingly feeling, radiating from it. She was going to die. Or Darquesse was going to come out and destroy them all. She heard herself wish that she simply died. She wouldn't mind that, but at the same time, Fiend would be all powerful, or whatever the Jug was going to do.

Or was he? She could remember, vaguely, that someone had to touch the Jug after, with a sacrifice of blood to get the Secrets from the Jug.

She felt her mind go a little blank in areas. A voice was taking to her, but she ignored it, pretended it wasn't there. Eventually it went. Just like every other thought in her mind. She wasn't cold or hot or anything. She couldn't feel a thing. Slowly she drifted. Until a face came into her mind's eye.

It was a skeleton. She remembered this man, for she knew this was a man, not just a skeleton. She remembered his beautiful voice. Never had she told him this, but she loved that voice. As she thought of him, her thoughts started to sharpen, if only slightly. She could feel the cold of the floor against her left side, where she must have fallen at some point. And she could hear something again. Faintly.

A man, screaming. Another man, the one with the beautiful voice, shouting. And other things. She heard bangs and feet running and the occasional splash and the cold ground leave her side.

She tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy, and she was exhausted. But she knew she was alive. That was good. Alive was very good, especially as she wanted to keep living.

She felt herself bob up and down, as the person ran with her in their arms, and it wasn't particularly comfortable. There was more noise for a moment, mostly pounding feet, but then they faded away, as she was placed, she presumed, on a stretcher, and taken away.

* * *

Ghastly was waiting in one of the vans which held Skulduggery's and Valkyrie's reinforcements. He had got a text from Valkyrie a few minutes earlier, telling him the Detectives were about to go in. Sending his luck had been the only thing he could do, so he had done it.

Waiting in the van, other than himself, was six Cleavers and Daniel Strong. Strong was driving. The Cleavers were in the back. He was in the passenger seat. He didn't fancy being in the middle of five Cleavers and have one in the passenger seat. Tipstaff had said that that was the seating plan, but he hadn't really warmed to the idea. It wasn't Ghastly's style, so to speak, to be heavily protected.

And so, he sat. And sat. And waited. Ghastly got bored after a while. But there wasn't much to do-

His mobile rang. Ghastly had been so bored, that when it rang, he was faster than lightning, having pressed the green 'RECEIVE CALL' button before the tone had even started. He felt slightly smug.

"Hello?" He said to the phone.

"It's Skulduggery," the phone said. "Valkyrie has the Jug and the book. She has Fiend on her tail. I can't find them, but I suspect they will be at the river, or going towards it. I want you to go to the edge, a little way back from where you are stationed and travel along the river edge, until you find them, and I will meet you in the middle."

"OK," Ghastly replied. "One moment." He hurriedly said the instructions into the radio, speaking to Strong and all the other drivers at the same time. He went back to the phone again. "OK, were driving again. Where are you?" He questioned.

"Just about to reach the river at the outside of town."

"How? If Valkyrie has already got to the river, you shouldn't be that far behind."

He heard Skulduggery hesitate. "Fiend threw me off a building."

Ghastly sighed. "Do I need to know anything _else_ before I leave you to run down a river?"

"Um, I think Fiend has my gun. I might have lost it when I fell, as I did lose a few body parts which needed to be reattached-" Ghastly filed the information for further taunting, "- but he may have grabbed it in the scuffle or whatever."

Saying goodbye and hanging up, Ghastly looked straight out the window, just as he spotted movement up ahead.

* * *

**YAY! More story! I know I left you on another Cliffey, but I Don't want there to be to much else in this one. It will become to difficult. I home you understood!**

**I will write the next as soon as possible! =)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi! Sorry for such a long wait! I had a block, and the laptop needed to be fixed! Grrr!  
Anyway, hope you like it! Enjoy! ;)**

**Part 1- Ghastly Part 2- Valkyrie Part 3- Valkyrie**

* * *

Chapter 13

Ghastly ordered the cars to stop. He had put the radio transmitter on, which connected to all the other cars and vans, meaning they all got the orders at the same time, and no one had to wait for relays. He knew from experience how that could ruin who operations.

He could just see what was happening in the distance with his binoculars, magically enhanced with symbols to see further and with more detail. Only Valkyrie and Fiend were there, about seven hundred and fifty yards away. Fiend had his back to the cars, and Valkyrie was on the floor, on her knees. Even with the magical enhancements, he couldn't quite make out the detail as to why she was on the floor. But he could guess it was completely against her will. Ghastly had never known Valkyrie to put fear or possible injury before her work in all the time he had known her.

He could, however, see Fiend. Fiend was chanting, with a big book in his hands. Ghastly couldn't see the Jug, but he didn't know if it was needed or not, or if it was on the floor, or that much detail in general from this distance. Someone needed to update these damn signals.

Figuring that with Fiend occupied and with his back to the cars and vans, Ghastly started issuing orders.

"Right, I want the back three vans to go up to the road, and carry on, then pick up Detective Pleasant. Do not engage Fiend. Wait for further orders. Go now," Ghastly said in his Elder voice.

"Yes, sir," echoed out of the transmitter thrice. He saw them carefully zoom up the bank and onto the road through the rear view mirror.

"OK, now I want the medic van to go onto the road," he said. "Wait until I give the order to move in, and then take up spot at the road, about fifty yards behind being directly aligned with Fiend and Detective Cain at the river. Go now."

He listened to there "Yes, sir," and went back to watching. His van, being at the front of the three behind him and formally in front of the medic van and other three vehicles that had probably collected Skulduggery by now, had the best view of the scene in front of them.

Strong had driven the van to about three hundred and fifty yards from the small but potentially devastating scene. Putting the binoculars to his eyes, Ghastly's blood drained from his face, turning his almost comically white.

Valkyrie was on her knees, tilting to the left but not yet fallen on her side. She had her arms around her hips. Ghastly couldn't for the life of him figures out how the bullet got it, but he could see the blood on her lap and hands. He knew it was a bullet wound because there, at Wane Fiend's feet, was Skulduggery's prized revolver.

"Skulduggery is not gonna like that," Ghastly muttered to himself. He needed to act fast if he wanted to save Valkyrie and stop Fiend, and be back in time for dinner. The sudden thought that Valkyrie may not be able to make it filled Ghastly's mind and he had to fight back white-hot rage with a jagged rock.

"OK, MOVE!" he shouted, and all the black cars and vans moved as one.

The next events happened in a blur to Ghastly. They quickly drove to where the young, spitfire of a Detective had fallen on her side into the fatal position and Fiend, who had stopped chanting due to being hit by a car. Fiend was shouting and cursing, but was unhurt, and fighting pointing Skulduggery's gun into the crowd of agents and Cleavers that had him surrounded. Skulduggery was already there, ready to fight. Or possibly kill. Ghastly really doubted Skulduggery was simply fine with Valkyrie shot, with his gun no less.

"Ghastly!" Skulduggery bellowed, without looking away for Fiend. "Get Valkyrie! She needs help!"

He instantly ran over to Valkyrie and pulled the girl into his arms. She looked pale, _really_ pale. There was a lot of blood on her lap, arms and jacket. The wound was covered by the jacket itself, which was probably good for Ghastly. He didn't want to see. Running over to the medic van on the road, he noticed her eyelids flicker and close completely, only just falling unconscious. She must have been in terrible pain.

Behind Ghastly, he could hear gun shots and most of the six found targets by the screaming. Then he could hear what must have been Fiend screams of agony as the Cleavers, and operatives jumped on him now he didn't have a loaded gun to fire.

Then he was in the medic van and lying Valkyrie on the thin bed, letting the doors close behind him and the van sped away.

* * *

When Valkyrie next opened her eyes, all she could she was white. She could have been floating, drifting through the sky, watching nothing but the pure white sky. White was a nice colour, Valkyrie decided. She couldn't feel a thing. She couldn't move any of her limbs or open her mouth to speak. She couldn't hear anything either.

But that was what made her stop for a moment. To stop thinking about the beautiful white sky, and the calm, and the peacefulness her body had been consumed by. It was quiet. It was never quiet. Her head was always filled with jokes and crimes and criminals pleas or gloats. It was filled with Skulduggery's voice usually.

And so, Valkyrie came out of her daze. She couldn't be there forever after all. There were asses to kick, doors to break, faces to punch and sexy men to flirt with.

Wait.

What?

Valkyrie suddenly blushed. She was no longer in the clouds. Looking around, she noticed that she was in the medical bay of the Sanctuary. She was in a loose-fitting hospital gown and had a thin blanket over her. Probably for the best, she thought to herself. She hadn't shaved her legs since the morning before being shot and whatever amount of time she had been here.

However, her mind brought her back to more pressing matters. The sexy man. In the bed across from her. Sitting up, reading, with a small pout on his cute, pink lips. Very nice, Valkyrie thought. He wasn't looking at her, but she made sure her hair looked all right with the compact mirror on her bedside table. It did. Plus, she had no marks on her face. She licked her lips to give them a bit more colour and tapped her cheeks to give them a bit of blush. She looked good.

"Valkyrie!" Skulduggery's voice came from the hall. He walked past the hot man and made his way to her bed. Sitting on a chair he began talking. "How are you? Are you in any pain?" he asked concerned, but trying to sound indifferent. It wasn't really working.

"I'm grand, I'm grand," she said. Valkyrie also made sure to give him her best smile, since she could see the hot man looking at her from over Skulduggery's hat. Which was navy blue, she noticed, to match his navy blue suit and crisp white shirt. "Hey, you changed outfit since I saw you last!" She exclaimed. Valkyrie also made sure to mask her face into a frown which could be called cute, annoyed and pretty all at the same time. She wasn't able practising and reshaping her expressions at twelve and thirteen to make them look more attractive.

"Yeah, I got some blood on it," Skulduggery replied, unaware with what she was trying to achieve. Which was a nice date with the sexy man lying on the bed next to hers.

"How?"

"I had to help the wounded up to the medic van. The second one, that is. You were taken away in the first one straight away since they saw you as a priority," he explained. There was a slight edge to his works, which told her he was angry. Not at her of the medic's that is, but at Fiend, for hurting her enough that she needed to be prioritised.

She sighed, in a delicate, dignified manner. She noticed the sexy man look away, back to his book. She motioned Skulduggery to come closer. Sitting up and wincing at the pain she was in as she moved her stomach muscles, she whispered to him, "Who's that man?"

He didn't say anything for a moment. "The one behind me?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"That's Daniel Strong. He's an adapt. Shot by Fiend in the leg, but to protect his partner. He works in an armed unit. Kind of like the FBI." That, Valkyrie thought, is cool.

"Anything else I should know?" Valkyrie asked. He looked about twenty-two, though that could be much older in the magic world. She hoped not too much though, because that out be weird. She wasn't eighteen yet, and a seventy year old and a seventeen year old could cause problems and the like, so-

"He's married with five kids," Skulduggery said.

"Damn, that's a shame." She sat up, fixed her voice and expression back to normal, and then looked back at him as he straightened up. "So. When am I getting out of here?"

"Three days longer. But this time you need to stay, because the bullet cut through your womb, and if you ever want kids at any point in life, you will need that," he explained. He looked like he might say something else, so Valkyrie butted in.

"How long have I been here?" She said hurriedly.

"Since three o'clock yesterday and its four o'clock today. So just over a day in total."

Then, the doctor came in and started to talk about the wound and how it was healing nicely and how she needed to "take thins tablet to stop your period which will start in two days." At that point, Valkyrie sat up straight, snatched up the pull, swallowed it dry and slapped the doctor. The then brought him close by the collar and threatened to castrate him if he repeated anything. Once he was gone, she threatened to destroy Skulduggery if he ever said anything. He was chuckling, but did agree, so she let him off.

But in her head she was cursing the world, asking why the hell everyone was going on about babies and the natural course of life to her. She felt like sticking her head in the ground and dying. It was rather humiliating.

* * *

Three days later, Valkyrie was walking through the halls of the Sanctuary once again. The doctors hadn't actually given her the all clear, but when they checked her over the final time they said everything seems fine they just need to double check there was nothing in her blood. They did that every time. There had never, ever been anything wrong with her blood.

At that moment, she was walking with Skulduggery to Ghastly's office. Ghastly had already seen her on multiple occasions when she was in the hospital bay, sometimes to see her and make sure she was OK, other times because he needed to escape work and all of its boring nuisances.

As they walked about three doors away, Tipstaff came out of his office. Ghastly had been rather annoyed when he found out Tipstaff would be on his corridor and not Erskine's or some other unfortunate souls. At that moment, Tipstaff was scowling, and muttering, until he saw the detectives. Then his face brightened.

Valkyrie groaned in her head. That meant he wanted to talk. Skulduggery moaned for real and Tipstaff glared.

"Detective Cain, how wonderful to see you. Just out of the hospital I presume?" Tipstaff asked her.

"Yep," Valkyrie nodded. "We are just about to see Ghastly."

"Can you tell him to finish the report about finances and to pre-read the speech he will need to present? I'm too busy at the moment."

"Of course. Don't mind at all," Skulduggery said smoothly. Valkyrie knew that he was tapping his foot impatiently on the inside.

Tipstaff sighed. "Well, I wish I could stay to talk, but you have business and I do too. Something about the African Grand Mage wanting to meet our Grand Mage Ravel face to face," he scowled again and started muttering to himself as he walked off. Valkyrie started to feel bad for Erskine.

Then they were at Ghastly's door. Skulduggery didn't bother knocking, he just walked in. Probably not the best idea because he could easily have important guests in his office. But, at that moment, there was only Ghastly, and mountains of paper work.

"You realise that you have half the Amazon forest in here, Ghastly," Valkyrie said teasingly. Without looking up from what he was reading, Ghastly replied:

"Blame Tipstaff."

"He wanted us to tell you that you need to read a speech and write about finances," Skulduggery reported. "Whatever that means."

Ghastly sighed. Valkyrie realised how dark the bags under his eyes looked. She didn't think he had slept for days at least.

"I'll do it when I can," he responded. Then he leaned back on the comfy swivel chair he had insisted on, and clasped his hands on his belly. "Valkyrie. How are you? Doctor gave you a clean bill of health?"

"Meh. They said I did, then that they needed to check my blood. Again. I sometimes wonder if they are storing it for the next time I'm mortally wounded instead of testing it."

Ghastly cracked a smile. "God knows what they do."

Skulduggery took over. "Did they retrieve the jug?" He asked.

"Yes. At this moment tests are being done to neutralise it."

"Neutralise what?" Valkyrie asked. She hated not knowing what was going on. It was like revising for a subject you have never been to before.

"Oh, remember the story that Erskine told you at the start of the case? About the farmer?" Valkyrie nodded at Ghastly. "Well, it was right. Partly. The jug did hold power. And a lot of it as well, considering the size of the Jug. But it doesn't make you all powerful. That implies that you are stronger than everyone, that you are the strongest than every other person at every singular discipline. This isn't what the Jug would do.  
"The Jug gives you power that adds on to the power that you already have. So, if it went into Skulduggery, for example, that would enhance his elemental magic. He doesn't have any other magic to add onto, so it would all go towards that. If it had gone into to you, though, it would have split evenly between your elemental magic and Necromancy, because you practice two disciplines. Are you following?"

"Yeah," She replied.

"The reason we need to neutralise it, and not simply give it to someone that has really weak magic, though, is because it would have enhanced someone's magic millions of times. Forget True names and all the power that comes with that! The person that touched the Jug would have been hundreds of times more powerful!" He paused to shake his head. "And in the hands of someone as stupid and short sited as Wane Fiend..."

"Damn," Valkyrie said, a little stunned. If she had heard this before the case, it might not have had such an affect. But to know that they had almost failed at stopping him. She _had_ failed at stopping him. That could have destroyed the entire world.

Then she stopped feeling guilty since he had been stopped. Not need to dwell on the past, like.

"So, what is he being sentenced?" She asked.

"Three hundred years minimum, five hundred maximum. With the revelation of what the Jug can do, the judge will probably choose higher, rather than lower. He will defiantly go to a high security prison, but I-"

And that was when the door burst open and Erskine Ravel fell in, slamming the door shut and locking it. Everyone stared at him, shocked. Panting he said, "Tipstaff. Wants my phone again. Missed a call from Africa, all because of the stupid, damn pigs!"

Valkyrie and Skulduggery looked at each other for a moment. Then they burst out laughing, holding onto each other to try and stay upright.

* * *

**Yay! I'm not sure if I should leave it there, or add more, but I think this story is finished. It was so much fun! I hope you liked it!**

**If anyone wants more, or wants me to explain anything else in another chapter, or whatever, just put it in the reviews. Thank you so much for the support I got! I love you all! **

**;)**


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